Irish claim four golds and two silvers

BOXING: IRISH BOXERS continued their domination of this year's European Union Championships when they claimed a record four …

BOXING:IRISH BOXERS continued their domination of this year's European Union Championships when they claimed a record four gold and two silver medals in the 2008 finals in Cetniewo, Poland on Saturday.

Irish skipper Ken Egan, Darren Sutherland, John Joe Nevin and David Oliver Joyce secured golds and Paddy Barnes and Con Sheehan landed silvers almost one year after Ireland took three gold and two silver medals at the EU Championships at the National Stadium in Dublin.

Egan, who has now won three EU golds in the last five years, and Sutherland finished on top of the podium after doing an Irish double over England's James DeGale and Tony Jeffries.

Sutherland outpointed DeGale, winning 22-16 in a repeat of the 2007 EU final at the National Stadium which the St Saviour's Dublin middleweight also won.

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And reigning Irish light heavyweight champion Egan was celebrating after he bagged his third EU gold medal in five years when England's Tony Jeffries retired at the end of the third round with the Dubliner 14-7 up.

Nineteen-year-old Irish Olympian John Joe Nevin, from the Cavan Boxing Club, got Saturday's gold rush under way with a thrilling 11-4 bantamweight win over Poland's Mazik Mateusz.

And David Oliver Joyce, who was another to have an outstanding championships, retired Croatian Mirsad Ahmeti in the third round - the St Michael's Athy featherweight was 23-7 up when the bout was halted.